This Day in History: 1967-10-16

Following an eight week period of training, the first contingent of the RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam (RANHFV) arrived in Vietnam on 16 October 1967 and was quickly integrated with the 330 personnel of the 135th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC). The first contingent included pilots, observers, naval airmen and support staff (assigned to 723 Squadron Naval Air Station Nowra in July 1967) under the command of Lieutenant Commander Neil Ralph, RAN. The flight consisted of eight pilots, four observers, four aircrewmen, 24 technical sailors and six support staff comprising of cooks, stewards, writers (clerks), medics and storemen. As a result of this unique relationship between the RAN and the US Army, the unit was officially designated ‘EMU’, for Experimental Military Unit. This was fitting, given that the emu is a native Australian bird, and in some ways comical as the emu cannot fly. Source: www.navy.gov.au/ran-helicopter-flight-vietnam-history website